Vehicles are often driven off of conventionally paved roads for purposes of both work and recreation. Travel through and across natural terrain such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, rock, mud and foliage introduces problems and challenges not encountered by the everyday motorist. Vehicles adapted for such driving conditions are often fitted with oversized tires for necessary traction and improved ground clearance. Off road vehicles may be further equipped with a locking differential that delivers all available torque to the wheel on the axle of the vehicle that has the most traction. This arrangement reduces the likelihood of the vehicle becoming stuck in mud, ice or snow.
The front of a vehicle includes numerous expensive parts such as the radiator, headlights, water pump, battery, hood and grill. During off road or even during regular use these parts can be damaged by limbs, brush and other debris. It is therefore known to affix a brush guard to the front of the vehicle in order to protect the front of the vehicle and associated components from damage. A brush guard is generally made of a tubular framework of steel that is bolted directly onto the front bumper, hood and/or frame of the vehicle. The brush guard normally has an open front face to allow air to be drawn into the radiator of the vehicle for cooling purposes. Although smaller items such as stones and twigs can pass through the brush guard, larger more damaging objects like tree limbs are contacted by the brush guard and prevented from damaging the front of the vehicle.
It is sometimes the case that vehicles become stuck in mud or snow during off road use. In order to extract the vehicle a jack or lever may need to be employed to raise a portion of the vehicle. The user of the vehicle needs to keep such instruments handy as brush guards are not designed to be removed from the vehicle and used as a lever. Other situations exist in which the user of the vehicle is in need of a ramp or ladder to move items onto a bed of the vehicle or to access elevated areas such as the limb of a tree when hunting. Here, additional items such as ramps and ladders are stored in the vehicle for these occasions. Further, it is sometimes the case that a particular area, such as a creek, is impassible even to a vehicle equipped for off road use. In such instances a bridge must be laid down in order to allow the vehicle to traverse such an obstacle. Such a bridge must be transported by the vehicle to the location in question for use.
As such, a user of an off road vehicle must transport a multiplicity of items to accomplish expected tasks and to guard against unexpected occurrences. A user could carry a number of these items only to discover that the one item he or she failed to bring was the one that was actually most needed on a particular occasion. Such a situation is of course undesirable and even more so considering the user may be located in a remote, hard to reach area. In other instances, the users of vehicles for work and personal purposes likewise will need to keep on hand a variety of items for accomplishing multiple tasks.
Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent the same or analogous features or elements of the invention.